“My first guitar lesson was at the age of fifteen and I was in college before wrote what I considered to be my first meaningful song. I owned my first home before I started my first band. It’s unavoidable that the practical aspects of life sometimes usurp the wonderfully impractical ones. My Engineering Degree? Practical. Pays the bills. My music? Well, that makes me (and hopefully all of my listeners) happy - no diploma necessary. Funny thing is it's my guitars that hang on my wall. The diploma sits in the closet.”
-Kelly Stratton
In a music industry saturated with throw away pop songs and singer/songwriters churning out acoustic confessions of missed opportunities and questionable decisions, Kelly Stratton is a breath of fresh air. She’s not here to offer flash with no substance or darkness with no light at the end of the tunnel. She’s here because playing music brings her unbridled joy, and sharing that joy with her audience makes the deal so much sweeter.
Stratton hails from Doylestown, PA and still calls it home. Throughout her life, her music has been the one constant. Kelly formed her first band in 2002 and started playing shows at surrounding venues. It wasn’t long until she was playing to packed houses. In 2008, she released her first album, She Knows to critical acclaim and the utter delight of her growing fan base. From 2009 to 2011, she helped to conceive and co-hosted Women Who Rock at Puck, a hugely successful monthly series spotlighting female-fronted bands from the region. Since then, she has continued to play music in Bucks County and the surrounding areas and is currently working on a follow-up album, due out in 2016.
Stratton’s music can’s be pigeonholed into one genre, the only all-encompassing element of her songs is that they can’t be labeled as “folk,” “rock,” or anything in between. Her influences run the gamut (The Pretenders, The Black Keys, Liz Phair, Led Zeppelin) and Stratton expertly blends them seamlessly into something wholly unique. Her music is undoubtedly about her own experiences, but she crafts each song into a universally relatable expression of strength and hope and delivers each one with unparalleled amount of energy and nuance. Stratton’s live performances can only be described as celebratory. Her backing band has always featured a veritable who’s who of Bucks County players, all working together to support and expand Stratton’s musical vision. The end result: music that touches the heart of every listener while begging to be played at top volume.